1. Field of the Invention
The invention is a discoid optical correlator system having reflective optical components positioned along a symmetrically folded optical axis between a light beam generator and an output detector.
2. Description of the Related Art
Optical correlators can perform complex pattern recognition more rapidly than known digital techniques. Optical correlators are capable of processing large amounts of data that can be useful in the detection, extraction and classification of desired information included in the data. Although known optical systems can perform extremely high speed, two-dimensional pattern recognition, their development has been hindered by the lack of suitable optical components; particularly at the input plane and at the spatial filter plane. However, the recent development of magneto-optic display assemblies (for example, see Robert H. Anderson's U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,198 which is assigned to the same assignee) provides a two-dimensional array of electronically programmable light shutters or valves that can be used to enter information into optical correlators at very high rates, e.g., about 2000 frames per second. Such optical correlators can operate in or nearly at real-time. [See Mills and Ross, "Dynamic Magneto-optic Correlator: Real-time Operation", Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) Acoustic-Optic, Electro-Optic and Magneto-Optic Devices and Applications (1987) vol. 753, pp 54-63.]